Heat Pump vs Wood Burner: What Actually Costs Less to Run in NZ

This is one of the most common questions homeowners ask before a winter heating upgrade, and it doesn't have a single universal answer, but it does have a clear starting point: EECA (the government's own energy efficiency agency) rates heat pumps as the lowest-cost heating option for most homes, and has stopped funding wood burner installs through its Warmer Kiwi Homes grants.

Here's what the actual numbers say, and the non-cost factors that can still make a wood burner the right call for some households.

What EECA's own figures show

EECA states that a heat pump generally costs less to run than piped gas, bottled LPG, or a wood burner using bought firewood, and it is consistently listed as the most efficient heating option for New Zealand homes. For context, EECA's figures put a heat pump at roughly $122 a year cheaper to run than piped gas, and around $352 a year cheaper than bottled LPG heating.

A modern heat pump typically delivers three to four units of heat for every unit of electricity it uses, which is why running costs land in the region of $200 to $1,000 a year depending on the size of the unit and how much you use it, at typical electricity rates of roughly 25 to 35 cents per kWh.

Where wood burners can still win

Firewood cost varies enormously depending on whether you're buying it or sourcing it yourself, and that single variable matters more to the running-cost comparison than almost anything else. A household with access to genuinely free or very cheap firewood can end up ahead of a heat pump on running cost, even though a heat pump wins the comparison for most homes buying firewood at market rates.

There isn't a reliable, independently verified national figure for wood burner running cost the way there is for heat pumps, precisely because firewood cost and burner efficiency vary so widely between households. Treat any specific dollar figure you see quoted for wood heating with a healthy amount of scepticism unless it's based on your own firewood cost.

The tradeoffs that aren't about money

A few practical differences matter as much as the running cost for a lot of households.

• A heat pump also gives you summer cooling, a wood burner only heats
• A wood burner keeps working in a power cut, a heat pump doesn't
• Wood burners need manual fuel handling and storage, and someone to actually tend the fire
• New wood burner installs must comply with building code and, in some cities, stricter regional air quality rules

Check your local air quality rules before installing a wood burner

If you're in Christchurch, note that Environment Canterbury's Clean Air Zone rules now only allow Ultra-Low-Emission Burners for new wood burner installs, and every pre-2005 burner in the zone has to be removed or replaced by 1 January 2027. Other cities have their own regional air quality rules, so check with your council before assuming a straightforward swap or new install is allowed.

EECA's Warmer Kiwi Homes scheme funds heat pumps and insulation for eligible households, but no longer funds wood or pellet burner installs at all, which is a useful signal of where the government sees the better outcome for most homes on both cost and health grounds.

If a heat pump is the right call for your home, our researched heat pump installer lists are checked against real business registration and genuine local service, not just who ranks highest in search.